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90 GOLF COURSE MANAGEMENT 03.15
Examining turfgrass
species and management
regimes for enhanced
carbon sequestration
Aaron Patton, Ph.D.
Jon Trappe, M.S.
Quincy Law, M.S.
Dan Weisenberger
Ron Turco, Ph.D.
Soil carbon sequestration has been pro
-
posed as a method to reduce atmospheric
carbon dioxide. Although our understand
-
ing of soil carbon dynamics in wooded land-
scapes and agricultural crops has increased
signifcantly in recent years, highly managed
turf areas have remained understudied. Turf
ecosystems have tremendous potential to se
-
quester carbon in the soil, but more research
is needed to understand how we can enhance
soil carbon sequestration. To improve our un
-
derstanding of carbon sequestration, we are
learning how turf species and management
practices infuence soil carbon. Our research
objectives include:
1. Determining the greenhouse gas fux
of common turf species: perennial rye
-
grass, Kentucky bluegrass, tall fescue,
bermudagrass and zoysiagrass.
2. Quantifying total and labile soil carbon
and total nitrogen in stands of various
ages of Kentucky bluegrass, tall fescue
and zoysiagrass.
3. Measuring how turf clippings (residues)
affect soil microbial activity and soil ag
-
gregate stability.
4. Determining the infuence of vari
-
ous tall fescue and Kentucky bluegrass
cultivars with differing leaf elongation
rates on mowing frequency in order to
identify turfgrasses with reduced mow
-
ing requirements and increased carbon
sequestration potential.
5. Measuring the effects of grass clipping
management (collect or return) on
USGA research reports
Editor's note: The United States Golf Association funds a wide range of research related
to golf course management. The reports published here were written by university
researchers to describe results of their USGA-funded research. As stated in the reports,
some of these results are preliminary because the research projects or the data analysis
have not been completed. More information on USGA-funded research is available at
usgatero.msu.edu/tero_browse.html.
(Report)
greenhouse gas fux and soil carbon and
nitrogen dynamics.
The data available now are preliminary
results because additional research and analy
-
sis remain to be completed. Refereed journal
articles will be submitted at the conclusion of
the study.
The preliminary carbon dioxide fux re
-
sults by species predominately demonstrate
how weather impacts greenhouse gas fux.
Carbon dioxide fux data across species closely
tracked soil temperature data for each of the
sampling dates. Bermudagrass was consis
-
tently among the species with the lowest car-
bon dioxide fux across 14 collection dates.
Sampling from the greenhouse gas fux chambers. Photo by Jon Trappe